TRENTON, N.J. (AP) -- Assemblyman Bill Baroni said he finds it amazing -- a Democratic bill that makes him recall Kathleen Harris, a villain to most Democrats.

Harris was the Florida secretary of state in 2000 who certified George W. Bush as the Sunshine State's presidential victor, a move that gave him enough electoral votes to win the national election once the U.S. Supreme Court rejected legal challenges.

The plan that astounds Baroni and reminds him of Harris? Transferring the division that runs New Jersey's elections from the attorney general to the secretary of state.

"I am amazed that some of my friends on the other side of the aisle think this is a great idea," said Baroni, R-Mercer. "For eight years we have heard my friends on the other side of the aisle, and admittedly in many cases rightfully so, say the management of elections should not be in the hands of a partisan elected or appointed official."

The bill has passed the Assembly and the Senate and needs only Democratic Gov. Jon S. Corzine's signature to become law.

Corzine hasn't indicated whether he will sign the law, but Democratic legislators hope he will.

They claim the move will actually preserve electoral integrity by separating election administration from election law enforcement.

"This is a common sense move that is long overdue," said Assemblyman Thomas Giblin, D-Essex, a bill sponsor.

New Jersey is the only state in the nation that has its attorney general direct elections, according to the National Association of State Elections Directors.

The association said 38 states have elections directed by either a secretary of state or lieutenant governor, with 11 states giving that authority to elections commissions.

The New Jersey's secretary of state oversaw elections until 1998, when the state Division of Elections was transferred to the attorney general's office.

The division is responsible for certifying voting machines, overseeing polling place accessibility and regulating voter registration, political party declarations, absentee voting and election district requirements. It's also the filing place for federal and state candidates.

Giblin noted most states make the secretary of state their chief elections official.

"It will allow us to re-establish a separation of powers that should exist between the administrators of elections and people responsible for oversight of elections," he said.

But Baroni, an attorney who practices election law, said putting election administration in the hands of a non-law enforcement official is a risky move.

He cited former Ohio Secretary of State Ken Blackwell as another example. The Republican Blackwell was criticized by some Democrats in 2004 for alleged conflicts of interest and voter disenfranchisement, though a re-count showed Bush won the state by 118,000 votes.

"In Republican states and Democratic states, we've seen what happens when you put a political person in charge of elections," Baroni said. "It destabilizes the faith of the people of the state and, in the case of the states of Florida and Ohio, of the country in the management of elections."

New Jersey, he said, "has never once in any election been questioned for its integrity, been questioned for its nonpartisanship, been questioned for leaning one way or another."

"These other states can't say that," he said. "We in New Jersey can say that. After this law we cannot."

Doug Lewis of the NASED said nonpartisan election commissions seem the best way to manage elections because they bring the most stability and less staff turnover.

Meanwhile on Thursday, the American Civil Liberties Union asked an appeals court for approval to distribute voter rights cards within 100 feet of polling places during the state's Feb. 5 presidential primary.

The group claims Attorney General Anne Milgram has wrongly banned such distribution, but Milgram spokesman David Wald said voters deserve unfettered access to polling places and said voter rights information is posted in each polling location.